Archive for the ‘Cooking’ category
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Foods that span centuries
Friday, December 18th, 2009
A Croque Monsieur is standard offering at bars and cafes across France: it comprises melted cheese on toast with a slice of ham between the cheese and the meat. When the Isigny Sainte-Mère chef Ivan Vautier prepared his version, he used Normandy’s charcuterie speciality, andouille, with Pont l’Evêque cheese. The andouille is a speciality sausage [...]
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Lobster on a plancha, Normandy style
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Fancy a change from turkey at Christmas? The Isigny Sainte-Mère chef and Michelin-starred restaurateur Ivan Vautier has a dramatic recipe for lobster on an onion tart base. Working in the opposite way to the celebrated Tatin sisters, Ivan cooks his onions on top of greaseproof paper atop a plancha or Spanish worktop hotplate, before adding [...]
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Croissant competition winner
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Congratulations to Aurélian Russias, winner of this year’s national Competition for the Best Croissant made with Isigny AOP Butter. A student at the CFA in Livron, he came all the way from the Drôme, one of the the first 83 départements established after the French revolution, part of what is now the Rhône-Alpes region. The [...]
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Who will turn out a winning croissant?
Monday, October 12th, 2009
This weekend (October 17) sees the first national edition of Isigny Sainte-Mère’s annual search for the best croissant made with Isigny AOC butter. Over the past four years, the contest has gradually turned from a regional cook-off to a national contest with regional heats, staged during the summer months. The contestants are all students at [...]
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Isigny AOC butter turns its hand to tourage
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
To make a perfect layered pastry takes a special butter combined with constant turning and rolling, known as tourage. To prepare a leavened pastry, such as a croissant, the pastry is rolled out by hand, spread with butter, folded in thirds, turned through a right angle and rolled out again. And again. And again. And [...]
